It was interesting to read stories in the national media in the past couple of weeks declaring that Swiftcover is the “first major insurer to offer reduced premiums if motorists choose to use a dashcam”.
Here at Adrian Flux, we thought it was a bit of a shame there was no space in the article to mention our own dashcam schemes, which have been offering up to 15 per cent insurance discounts for dashcams for two years.
The Swiftcover deal provides a discount of 10 per cent, on the grounds that the cameras help with providing supporting evidence for policyholders to prove liability in a claim.
Claims will be processed quicker, cutting down on costs, and fraudulent claims will be easier to weed out, potentially saving the industry tens of millions of pounds a year.
Staff at Flux identified the potential for dashcams – which were already being widely used in eastern Europe – back in the early part of 2012.
At the time, discounts were provided for a single brand, but since then an ever-growing list of manufacturers have had cameras approved for the discount as the market grows in a similar way to the sat nav market in the past.
And unlike more mainstream insurers, as a specialist broker Flux can provide the discount on a range of niche vehicle types, including classics, motorhomes, modified cars, kit cars, and even military vehicles.
The biggest savings are to be had by young drivers, who could save £225 on a typical £1,500 premium, which would give you change from the cost of many devices in the first year of insurance.
Gerry Bucke, general manager at Flux, said: “We’re not surprised that others are now following in our footsteps, maybe only that it took so long for a High Street name to appreciate the potential benefit of dashcams.”
Ian Bellamy, of carcamerashop.co.uk, added: “In a recent survey, our customers said that saving money on their insurance was the second largest reason for them to purchase a car camera.
“This number will only increase as even more insurers take a leaf out of Adrian Flux’s book and recognise the many benefits that dashcams can deliver.
“The irrefutable video evidence that car cameras capture helps to apportion responsibility much more easily in the case of an accident, which speeds up insurance claims that could otherwise have taken a significant amount of time to resolve. This, in turn, leads to costs saving which it’s great to see insurers sharing with their customers in the form of discounts.”